26 May 2021

Dear friends,

It has been AGM season over the past couple of months, and we have worked with communities affected by Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Antofagasta to raise issues at their online AGMs. Rio Tinto and Anglo American provided extensive responses to questions raised, and the AGM reports below contain some commentary on the inadequacy of those responses. Anglo American has now also published responses to written questions not dealt with at its AGM and we will be analysing these in the weeks to come.

Antofagasta, as usual, dealt with questions by not answering them. Given that it is one of the largest mining companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, its willingness to evade scrutiny is outrageous. It boasts of having good community relations with, for instance, the community of Caimanes – but this community has taken legal action against the company, and recently won a victory in the Chilean courts.

Online company AGMs are, in any case, seemingly not conducive to shareholder scrutiny. Only 35 shareholders attended Rio Tinto’s AGM; only four attended Antofagasta’s. We did not ask Anglo American how many people were attending its AGM – I would guess somewhere between four and 35. It seems that most shareholders do not consider AGMs a useful vehicle for corporate accountability. We think that as long as there are AGMs, we should use them to make sure community concerns and demands are made clear – but we need to use many other methods to ensure that mining companies are held to account.

One of these other methods is online campaigning – please take the online action in support of communities affected by the Cerrejon Coal mine, owned by Anglo American, BHP and Glencore. We were unable to attend the Glencore AGM this year, but worked with colleagues in Switzerland, where it is based, to develop an online action pointing out the company’s human rights impacts in a number of countries. Please take this action too – and Coal Action Network’s action against financing the West Cumbria coal mine.

Another method is on-street protest: there have recently been protests against Lloyd’s of London insuring coal projects, and coming up is a protest against Rio Tinto, organised by Earth Strike.

Yet another method is disseminating information. You can find plenty of information on mining on our website and Twitter account. But our friends at the Mines and Communities Network, many of whom were involved in founding LMN in 2007, are now celebrating twenty years of publishing information about the mining industry and their website is an unparalleled archive of information on the companies that are of concern to us.

There is plenty of information in this mailout about the continuing controversy over Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge Aboriginal site in Australia, its uranium legacy in Australia and its general corporate record.

BHP stands accused of lack of responsibility in its treatment of those who continue to suffer because of the 2015 Samarco tailings dam collapse in Brazil.

Legal reform in Brazil threatens to open up indigenous territories to further mining. Anglo American has shown interest in expanding into the Amazon region. The industry has already been using the COVID-19 pandemic to expand its activities in Brazil.

There is a major crisis in Colombia at present, with brutal repression of protests linked to a national strike triggered by a tax reform introduced under pressure from credit rating agencies and favouring the super-rich and multinational companies like London-listed Anglo American, BHP and Glencore. The tax reform was fully supported by the UK government, which also provides training to the Colombian police and military, who are currently on a killing spree.

Meanwhile, elections to a constitutional assembly in Chile have produced a strong majority for reform of mining laws (among other things) which could see a welcome shift in the massively unequal balance of power between mining multinationals and local communities.

We have been involved with two webinars recently, one on transition minerals and the other on community resistance. You can watch both of these online.

Finally, do join us for our online Annual Gathering on 7 June and hear from representatives of communities around the world with whom we have been working over the past few years.

All the best,

Richard Solly, Co-ordinator, London Mining Network.

In this mailout

Take Action!

Free the Bruno Stream: the Wayuu people can live without coal, but not without water!

Glencore must respect human rights

Rule out insuring the West Cumbria mine

Vote in the Cane Toad Awards

Events

Thursday 3 June, 9am to 11am, Suing Goliath: The struggle for justice in cases of corporate abuse abroad

Saturday 5 June, 12 noon onwards, Protest outside Rio Tinto HQ

News

1) Mines and Communities Website celebrates 20 years

2) Renewables and the material transition

3) Coal and climate change

4) HSBC’s dirtiest deals: how HSBC funds suffering worldwide

5) Rio Tinto and its AGM

6) Anglo American and its AGM

7) Antofagasta and its AGM

8) BHP in the news

9) Reports on Glencore

10) Petra Diamonds pays out over human rights abuse allegations

11) Update on the Marikana massacre

12) The Roots of Colombia’s Crisis 2021

13) It could be a blow to mining: Chile votes for protection of territories, water and women

14) Devastating reform of mining law in Brazil

15) Mining industry takes advantage of pandemic in Latin America

16) Deep-sea mining corporate spin doctors

17) Greenland’s new mining minister backs Bluejay project

18) Government plays key role on water, waste, biodiversity management of mining sector – report

19) India: Fr Stan Swamy ill with suspected Covid-19

Videos of recent webinars

A Material Transition: Exploring supply and demand solutions for renewable energy minerals

Unearthing Justice: How to Protect Your Community from the Mining Industry

Human rights and toxic mining legacies in Southern Africa

Take Action!

Free the Bruno Stream: the Wayuu people can live without coal, but not without water!

Please send an email to Colombian government agencies and the UK-listed owners of the Cerrejon mine

Glencore must respect human rights

Glencore is responsible for environmental damage, human and worker rights violations and destruction of livelihoods around the world. We ask for real changes in the company’s behaviour.

Rule out insuring the West Cumbria mine

While the government considers stopping the West Cumbria mine, we need to pile on as much pressure as possible. If we can get major insurance companies to rule out the mine, we not only make it harder for them to get insurance, but also pressure the government to rule it out as well. Write to the top 10 Lloyd’s of London insurers today.

Vote in the Cane Toad Awards

Naming and shaming Australia’s corporate cane toads – including London-listed BHP and Rio Tinto. Cast your vote!

Events

Thursday 3 June, 9am to 11am, Suing Goliath: The struggle for justice in cases of corporate abuse abroad

Debate with human rights lawyers, NGOs and Members of the EU Parliament on civil litigation against EU business for corporate abuses abroad.

Saturday 5 June, Protest outside Rio Tinto HQ

Hosted by Brazil Matters, Earth Strike South London and others. Meet in Trafalgar Square at 12 noon and march to Rio Tinto HQ via a few other multinationals…

News

1) Mines and Communities Website celebrates 20 years

A two decades long standing data base of 14,000 categorised articles

2) Renewables and the material transition

We can’t mine our way out of the climate crisis

We need a holistic, material transition towards a circular society.

Mining is wreaking havoc – better recovery of battery metals will help

The EU’s proposed new standards for sustainable batteries are an opportunity to move away from destructive mining. The right policy measures can make the system more circular and avoid the mistakes of the past, write Benjamin Hitchcock Auciello and Alex Keynes.

Anti-Greenwashing Educational Toolkit

GREENWASHING makes things seem more environmentally friendly than they are, hiding environmental neglect or harm. Greenwashing in the climate movement distracts us with technological fixes that still rely on the fundamental structures that caused climate change in the first place.

3) Coal and climate change

British banks finance 805m tonnes of CO2 production a year

Emissions from projects and companies backed by the City are nearly double those of the UK

Coal Roundup May 2021

News from Coal Action Network

Lloyd’s of London marketplace & coal insurance – FAQs

Lloyd’s of London has refused to rule out allowing Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in Australia or the West Cumbria coal mine in the UK to obtain insurance via their marketplace.

Blockbuster IEA Report Urges No New Fossil Development

No new investment in oil, gas, or coal development, a massive increase in renewable energy adoption, speedy global phaseouts for new natural gas boilers and internal combustion vehicles, and a sharp focus on short-term action are key elements of a blockbuster Net Zero by 2050 report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

4) HSBC’s dirtiest deals: how HSBC funds suffering worldwide

Report from Market Forces in advance of HSBC’s 28 May AGM.

5) Rio Tinto and its AGM

Evasion and hypocrisy: the 2021 Rio Tinto AGM

Full report on the company’s response to the issues raised by communities affected by its operations.

Rio Tinto: no progress, only hollow talk

Videos and other material setting out demands of communities affected by Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto shareholders reject former CEO’s departure package

A majority of Rio Tinto’s shareholders opposed the exit package handed to former chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques, ousted after the destruction of sacred rock shelters in Western Australia last year.

A year on from the Juukan Gorge destruction, Aboriginal sacred sites remain unprotected

Rio Tinto’s reputation is in pieces, but the laws, policies and power imbalances that allowed the blast to happen remain largely unchanged

It has been one year since Rio Tinto destroyed the sacred site at Juukan Gorge

Many people were very cross with them for saying the quiet part (colonisers took all the land) out loud (we blew the living shit out of it)

Aboriginal group seeks to strengthen ties with Rio a year after cave destruction

The Aboriginal group whose sacred rock shelters Rio Tinto destroyed in Western Australia last year for an iron ore mine said it was committed to improving its relationship with the miner to ensure such desecration never happens again.

The story of Rum Jungle: a Cold War-era uranium mine that’s spewed acid into the environment for decades

Buried in the recent Australia budget was money for rehabilitating the Rum Jungle uranium mine near Darwin. Despite a major rehabilitation project by the Commonwealth in the 1980s, the damage to the local environment is ongoing. The mine was owned by the federal government, but was operated under contract by a former subsidiary of Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto corporate profile and company timeline

Summary of the company’s history on the LMN website.

6) Anglo American and its AGM

Next question, please! Anglo American’s 2021 AGM, Wednesday 5 May

Full report on the handling of the concerns raised by communities we work with in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

Latin American Network on Anglo American: public statement for our territories

Community demands to Anglo American

Anglo’s coal pipe dream

Mine CEOs say getting rid of coal assets, as Anglo has now done, is the ‘responsible’ thing to do. But they’re just running away from future liabilities.

Arsenic in the River Colina, Chile: could it be Anglo American’s fault?

When a strange foam was seen in the river, analysis revealed hugely elevated levels of arsensic and aluminium in the river bed.

Bilingual comic book launch: the magic of responsibility

This graphic book is the result of collaboration between communities affected by the Cerrejion coal mine in Colombia and various international solidarity groups.

7) Antofagasta and its AGM

Antofagasta Minerals must take responsibility for its impacts

Chilean Supreme Court rules in favour of the Caimanes Community

We take a different view: contradiction and evasion at the tiny AGM of Antofagasta, massive mining multinational

Antofagasta refused to engage with critical questions at an online AGM attended by only four shareholders

Minnesota copper project in limbo as officials launch permits review

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has agreed to reconsider its decision to renew 13 prospecting permits in Minnesota, which could have allowed Antofagasta’s Twin Metals to expand its proposed copper-nickel mine at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

8) BHP in the news

Throw them overboard’: Brazil mine disaster victims bullied over compensation

Communities awaiting compensation from the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history say they’re being stymied by a convoluted legal process that favours those responsible.

BHP enters $17 million farm-in deal for Elliot copper project

Following successful completion of a jointly designed validation program, BHP has exercised its option to enter a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Australia’s Encounter Resources covering the Elliott copper project in the Northern Territory.

9) Reports on Glencore

Glencore corporate profile and company timeline

Summary of the company’s history on the LMN website.

Failed state of health: health emergency in Indigenous Peoples of Espinar, Peru

Report from Amnesty International on health impacts of Glencore’s Espinar project in Peru

10) Petra Diamonds pays out over human rights abuse allegations

Petra Diamonds pays £4.3m to Tanzanians ‘abused’ by its contractors

Firm settles over allegations claimants were shot, stabbed and beaten by guards at mine that produced one of Queen’s favourite gems

Petra Diamonds reaches a settlement with 71 claimants for alleged human right abuses at its Tanzanian subsidiary

Petra Diamonds Limited confirms that a settlement has been reached, on a no admission of liability basis, in relation to claims brought in London (“the Claims”) by Leigh Day, a UK based law firm, on behalf of 71 anonymous claimants, in relation to alleged breaches of human rights, associated with third-party security operations, at the Williamson Mine.

11) Update on the Marikana massacre

Mine workers were massacred by police at the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa in August 2012. The mine was owned by London-listed Lonmin, which has been taken over by US-South African company Sibanye Stillwater. Families of the murdered workers, and striking workers unjustly imprisoned, have yet to receive justice.

Hope faces off against power in Marikana trial

The family members of mineworkers killed during the Marikana massacre in 2012 have yet to see a police officer held to account, and police testimony thus far appears unclear.

Would it have made a difference? Marikana, BASF and the Supply Chain Act

German company BASF has been the biggest purchaser of platinum from Markana. From 2023, German legislation will rule how BASF must meet its own human rights due diligence obligations. Would the Supply Chain Act have helped BASF respond more seriously to the apparent abuses at its then largest platinum supplier, Lonmin, after the Marikana massacre nine years ago?

12) The Roots of Colombia’s Crisis 2021

At the height of the commodity boom in 2013 the extractive industries provided a third of government revenues, whilst still keeping spectacular profits. For example, the El Cerrejón coal mine has provided at least US $9.2bn profit for its three owners, the London based Anglo-American and BHP Billiton, and the Swiss multinational Glencore. But the big companies have since slashed their tax payments, and corporation tax is now providing only 8% of government revenues.

13) It could be a blow to mining: Chile votes for protection of territories, water and women

Chile recently voted for members of an assembly to draft a new constitution – and it contains many who are highly critical of the mining industry.

14) Devastating reform of mining law in Brazil

PL 3729 of 2004 and the destruction of environmental licensing in Brazil

Under the influence of business lobbies, the House of Representatives approved the basic text of the bill that radically changes the rules of environmental licensing in Brazil, ending the compulsory licensing for various types of enterprises, which increases the risk of tragedies with great social and environmental impact.

He’s causing terrible suffering: Bolsonaro’s death bill will devastate the rainforest and its peoples

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is trying to roll back indigenous rights and open their territories to mining through Bill 191, dubbed the ‘death bill‘.

15) Mining industry takes advantage of pandemic in Latin America

Mining industry takes advantage of pandemic to licence 13 projects at once in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Report by Gabriela Sarmet

Mining and COVID-19 in Latin America

Report from Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America, translated by Holly Jones

16) Deep-sea mining corporate spin doctors

The industry is peddling arguments that don’t add up.

17) Greenland’s new mining minister backs Bluejay project

London-listed explorer and developer Bluejay Mining said it had a “positive” meeting with Greenland’s newly appointed mining minister, which has eased worries about the position of the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit, which won the country’s election in April.

18) Government plays key role on water, waste, biodiversity management of mining sector – report

The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) released a new report that provides guidance on the role of national, provincial and local authorities when it comes to the good governance of the mining sector.

19) India: Fr Stan Swamy ill with suspected Covid-19

Fr Stan Swamy SJ, the 84-year-old Jesuit, activist and defender of the rights of indigenous peoples who was incarcerated on 9th October 2020 in Taloja prison, Mumbai, is now ill with the symptoms of Covid-19. Fr Stan is a friend of many in London Mining Network and has worked with communities challenging mining projects in India.

Videos of recent webinars

A Material Transition: Exploring supply and demand solutions for renewable energy minerals

A recording of the excellent presentations given by Andy Whitmore, Yoly Esguerra and Pius Ginting can be found here. Read the Material Transitions report in full here.

Unearthing Justice: How to Protect Your Community from the Mining Industry

LMN’s Book Club event took place on May 12th and featured Joan Kuyek speaking about her book Unearthing Justice: How to Protect Your Community from the Mining Industry (Between the Lines, 2020). A recording of the event is available here.

Human rights and toxic mining legacies in Southern Africa

Amnesty International and Leigh Day presented a virtual discussion on the human and environmental impact of historical mining operations. Using examples from Southern Africa, the expert panel looked at the conduct of mining companies, the responsibilities imposed on business by international standards and investors to prevent and remediate harm to local communities and the potential legal liabilities that may arise. On the Panel: Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International, David Olusoga OBE, University of Manchester, Nicole Martens, Principles for Responsible Investment, Zanele Mbuyisa, Mbuyisa Moleele, and Richard Meeran, Leigh Day.